Mike Millar is a lot like you and me. Hes handy enough with tools that it seemed reasonable he could quickly and easily put together the six new office chairs hed chosen to upgrade the conference room. The operative term being seemed.

The picture on the instruction sheet was not exactly helpful, recalls Millar, founder of Millar Technology, a tech consulting and advisory firm with offices in Los Angeles and Berkeley, CA. I built the first chair completely wrong  the seat ended up facing the wrong direction, he says. The picture actually got in the way of things.

Assembling office furniture is not the same as putting together a piece or two for your home. Likely, youll be putting together multiple pieces  and the more there is, the more that can go wrong. Follow these tips to make building office furniture go as smoothly as possible.

Tip #1 for Building Furniture: Take a photo. Dont trust that the instructions will be helpful. When you're in the store look at an actual example of what youll be building and take a picture of it from multiple angles, Millar suggests. It will make it a lot easier.

Tip #2 for Building Furniture: Create an assembly line. When youve got several of the same item, its fastest and easiest to do them assembly-line style, Millar says. Do all the bases, then all the seats, then all the arm rests. You get into a certain flow and do better with each one you build.

Nothings worse than getting all set for assembling furniture only to discover you dont have the right pieces. How much time have you wasted looking for the special tool that somehow wasnt included in the box? Or worse, broken that tool on the first use?

Tip #3 for Building Furniture: Take inventory. Make sure all screws, bolts, pegs, etc., are accounted for prior to assembly, says Aron Susman, cofounder of TheSquareFoot, a New York-based company that helps small businesses find commercial space. Count the pieces to make sure you have the correct number. Return items that come up short, or take a sample to your local hardware store and get more. Have backup tools easily accessible, as the tools that come with kits are often inadequate or flimsy, he adds. A few item to keep in your office tool box: an Allen® wrench/hex key set, power drill with screwdriver bits, hammer and wood glue for when you chip the veneer off those particle board furnishings (you know you inevitably will).

Tip #4 for Building Furniture: Lay it out. Teresa Hartnett, owner of Hartnett Inc., was so excited about getting an entire office full of new furniture  a desk, bookcases, a matching file cabinet  that she couldnt wait to begin assembling furniture. I was about to be coordinated in the office for the first time ever, says the Alexandria, VA-based digital publishing and online learning executive. I had learned to count all the pieces when the boxes were opened from years of constructing home furniture, but I made the mistake of opening all the boxes at once. Then there were the distractions, which led to the mixing up of pieces  this is a thing to never do.

Even with these helpful tips, you may still find the task of building office furniture too frustrating or time-consuming. I finally surrendered to being the owner of a company with responsibilities that require my focus, Hartnett recalls. I hired a specialist to do the furniture, so I can be a specialist in what I know how to do.

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